Poet T.S. Eliot infamously referred to Titus as “one of the stupidest and most uninspired plays ever written,” while playwright Edward Ravenscroft dismissed it simply as a “heap of rubbish” (Shakespeare, 399). Yet for all of Titus’s grotesque horrors, the violence that seemingly repulsed Eliot and company should not be viewed as erratic, uncalculated acts. Rather they should be understood as representations of a wider, symbolic significance. It is through dismemberment, and the dismemberment of hands in particular, that the play can be seen through an emblematic perspective to signify the justification of vengeance and the loss of political and personal agency.
The sooner people accept that we are all human, the better. Moving on, the author’s style was unusual, criticizing, and degrading, and the tone was less than likeable. However, it was a direct approach to displaying human faults and how people turn the other way rather than acknowledge them. Lady Montagu, clearly took offense to Swift’s poem and so, wrote her own riposte to put him down for writing such an unflattering poem. She certainly did not “pass in silence without matching wits”(292) with Swift.
Within the extremely popular play named ‘An Inspector Calls’ Priestly uses the play to expose the lies, deceit and overall hypocrisy of people during his time. Hypocrisy is usually demonstrated by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have. In a literal sense, weakness is the state of lacking strength. However, Priestly portrays weakness as having personal defects or failings especially in lack of moral integrity. Again, Priestly shows wickedness somewhat detached from its literal meaning and instead shows wickedness in the characters departing from the rule of divine and moral law.
At the time the play was written, puritans were not popular with the general public because of their miserable rules against most forms of entertaintment. Malvolio displays desire for expensive materialistic things in Act 2 Scene 5, such as “some rich jewel”. He is being hypocritical since he scolds others for having
Macbeth: Gender Role of Manhood Shakespeare's Macbeth, is a story of not only how the absence of emotions deteriorates one’s manhood, but specifically, how the reliance on gender roles negatively impacts humanity. The stoic behaviors which are attached to the image of masculinity is not exactly as beneficial as it is dignified by many. Masculinity as a vital source of manhood also entitles mankind to deny humanistic values that were intended to lead in the first place. In Macbeth, the gender role of masculinity leads to unrewarding obsession with power throughout the play. True masculinity is a conceptual fallacy.
All simple, but major character flaws that can seriously affect one’s life. But what about tragic flaws? A tragic flaw is a character flaw so sensitive that it eventually results in a very unfortunate fate. “Antigone” is a Shakespearean Tragedy due to the tragic hero’s tragic flaw of ignorance that causes blind actions, which leads to unnecessary deaths, and finally an epic downfall. Creon, the tragic hero, performs actions with a very clouded judgment.
Hamlet also uses his intelligence to be rude and impertinent towards Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with the statement which they did not understand: "That I keep my counsel and not mine own. Besides, to be demanded of a sponge - what replication should be made by the son of a King." (Act four scene II pg 100) The reference to the sponge reflects the fact that
The three have very different views but the use of extended metaphors to describe them unifies them. Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, depicts life to be many things but nothing is more significant when Macbeth says life “is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” This extended metaphor reinforces the notion that life is random and has no relevance at all to anything. The outlook to life is very depressed because the character, Macbeth believes life only leads, “to dusty death,” His life was good but just got worse and worse so Shakespeare uses an extended metaphor to characterize not only Macbeth, but how life is viewed by him. Extended metaphors are very useful for authors for it allows them to interpret things and helps the reader understand what they are trying to get across. Mother to Son, by Langston Hughes is an extended metaphor describing life to be difficult and full of struggles, but they must be tackled head on.
Despite the fact that it can be argued that the play’s anatomy is consistently laid bare for the audience due to the consistent asides, the idea that love is not as it seems, humour hides the tendencies of extreme violence of the characters and the characters themselves deceive each other, hints at the gothic theme of nothing being as it appears. The notion that “nothing is as it seems” is explored through the significant theme of deceit and deception. Arguably, this idea of deception is most strikingly seen within the sub-plot through “the changeling”. On introduction to Antonio’s character, Rowley deliberately hides the fact that Antonio is in fact sane, from the audience. Antonio enters the stage “like an idiot” and from that point retains his “mad guise” until finally he abandons the illusion of madness, telling Isabella to “cast no eye upon this change”.
Immoral acts result in destruction when tempted with ambition and inability to act on the righteous conscience. Some of the many consequences include guilt and regret. In Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, and Mister Pip, written by Lloyd Jones, the characters are hungry for power and their own profit, which only results in mixed emotions of guilt and revenge and eventually, their downfall. Both writers use the theme of ambition and consequences of immoral acts as a conflict and advancement in plot, as their characters carry out impulsive behaviour thinking of only their own profit. As shown by Lloyd Jones and William Shakespeare in their respective novels, too much ambition for power and not being able follow one’s conscience leads to immoral acts that result in nothing but regret and guilt.